How to Sell Your Vintage Costume Jewelry for What It Is Worth
If you own some vintage costume jewelry that you want to sell, take some time to read books and search the Internet about the topic to learn how much you can get for your pieces.
The prices will vary according to your geographical location, the pieces' condition, the fashion and color trends, the designer signatures, and the pieces' uncommonness.
When you are informed, take your jewelry to an antique store or dealer to start negotiating. Another option is to do as you do with jewelry wholesalers. Contact an online dealer, but first, check their website, and read their “About us” and “Testimonials” pages to be with you what they stand for and how they work. Next, contact them to see if they would be interested in buying your pieces. You can show them your pieces in a number of ways:
-Scan the pieces front and back
-Take quality close-up pictures of the front and back
-Send the pieces to be inspected by the dealer
The dealer's main interest will be in the pieces' condition in terms of plating, prongs, and rhinestone clarity, thus, make sure the images you send show these characteristics plainly. To enhance the images, take the photos over a light colored piece of fabric, for example, light gray.
You must tell the dealer about any signatures or markings that your pieces have on the back. Make sure you check each piece thoroughly with a loupe under a bright light.
Tell the dealer your fee. By no means tell them you don't know how much to question for or that you would like for them to make you an offer. If you truly don't know how much to question for, you can question them to tell you their best offer, but in this case, you won't be able to make a counter offer. An option is for you to question for their best offer while you tell them that you want to get an “x” amount. Do this with several dealers and take the best offer.
You can also sell your vintage costume jewelry through consignment. Many dealers offer this option; thus, question information about their terms. Normally, you get more money selling on consignment, but it takes longer because you have to wait for the sale to recommend itself.
No matter why you are selling your jewelry pieces, they are valuable, not only monetarily but sentimentally too; this is why you should follow these tips to sell your vintage jewelry for what it is truly worth.
If you liked this article, tell all your friends about it. They'll thank you for it. If you have a blog or website, you can link to it or even post it to your own site (don't forget to mention www.paradisojewelry.com as the original source).
Rachel Clarkson
Rachel Clarkson is a blogger at the Wholesale Jewelry Blog and a jewelry wholesaler at Paradiso Inc.
